After 30 years, finally, the truth. Lindy and Azaria before their world was savaged and taken from them. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many people have passed on since Lindy Chamberlain was wrongly convicted of the murder of her daughter, Azaria. Young people born since then will hardly begin to comprehend the obsessive interest in the case that swept Australia and, indeed, the English-speaking world. The nine-week-old baby’s disappearance from a campground at Uluru more than 30 years ago became one of Australia’s most sensational legal cases and saturated the media for years. It also spawned a popular movie, called Evil Angels (also called “A cry in the dark”) with Lindy played memorably by Meryl Streep.

It was the most horrifying examples of a miscarriage of justice, because of the complicity of the whole society in its perpetration – a grieving and bereaved pair of parents, robbed of their baby daughter in awful circumstances, clearly with no motive for such an act, were convicted and punished in an atmosphere of a public lynching. It was a riotous circus of botched forensic evidence, the refusal of authorities to consider alternate explanations other than the fact that the baby had been murdered, and the constant howl of a public scenting blood. “Surely she did it, look at her face, she doesn’t care – doesn’t Azaria mean something about “sacrifice” – they belong to a weird religion, you know.” And so it went on, endlessly.

What is most terrifying about the case is that it was conducted in full view of the so-called impartial media, and despite the manifest failings of the case, that media largely failed to apply any intellectual rigour to the Chamberlain’s defence. Instead they were swept along by the lust of the public for a neat, sensationalist conclusion.

Canis lupus – the “Wolf Dog” – not a pet, not a friendly toy, a wild animal.

Well now the Northern Territory coroner finally found that Azaria Chamberlain was attacked or taken by a dingo in 1980. There were emotional scenes in court on Tuesday as the findings were handed down, with even the coroner’s voice quivering as she delivered what is likely to be the final chapter in a bitter legal battle.

Coroner Elizabeth Morris told a Darwin inquest on Tuesday morning that all of the evidence indicates a dingo was responsible for Azaria’s death.

“Azaria Chamberlain died at Uluru, then known as Ayers Rock, on the 17th of August 1980,” she said. “The cause of her death was as the result of being attacked and taken by a dingo. It is clear that there is evidence that a dingo is capable of attacking, taking and causing the death of young children.”

There have been four coronal inquiries, a murder trial and a royal commission into the case.

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton was jailed for murder despite an initial inquest ruling that a dingo had killed her daughter.

The conviction was overturned in 1988 after Azaria’s mangled and torn jacket was found near a known dingo lair. What would have happened if that jacket had never been found hardly bears consideration, and yet we must consider it, because only happenstance saved Lindy from spending decades in prison, just as only happenstance – and the ignorance of justice conducted as a blood sport – saw her in there in the first place.

“Please accept my sincere sympathy on the death of your special and loved daughter and sister, Azaria,” the coroner told the family after handing down her finding. “I’m so sorry for your loss. Time does not remove the pain and sadness of the death of a child.”

Outside the court, Ms Chamberlain-Creighton fought back tears but said she was “relieved and delighted to come to the end of this saga. No longer will Australians be able to say that dingoes are not dangerous, and that they only attack if provoked. The truth is out,” Mr Chamberlain added, saying that the family welcomed “a chance to put our daughter’s spirit to rest.”

Ms Chamberlain Creighton and former husband Michael Chamberlain were applauded outside the Darwin Magistrates Court by a large media contingent and members of the public. Mr Chamberlain said the coroner’s ruling was a triumph of justice. “This battle to get to the legal truth has taken too long,” he said. “However, I am here to tell you that you can get justice even when you think that all is lost.”

Some, it appears, though, will never be convinced. At 2.38 pm on 13th June, a Yahoo poll of so-far 3,000 people (a statistically significant figure) was showing this result.

Does Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton deserve an official apology?

Yes (1969) 65%

No (1051) 35%

One can only shake one’s head sadly and wonder what, if anything, the state can do to an innocent family that does deserve an apology.